📚 Learning Guide
Empirical Risk Minimization
medium

In the context of Empirical Risk Minimization, which of the following scenarios is most likely to lead to underfitting while impacting the generalization error negatively?

Master this concept with our detailed explanation and step-by-step learning approach

Learning Path
Learning Path

Question & Answer
1
Understand Question
2
Review Options
3
Learn Explanation
4
Explore Topic

Choose the Best Answer

A

A model that is too complex for the training data

B

A model that is overly simplistic with few parameters

C

A model that has been perfectly fitted to the training data

D

A model that employs regularization techniques effectively

Understanding the Answer

Let's break down why this is correct

Answer

Empirical Risk Minimization chooses a hypothesis that minimizes training error, but if the hypothesis class is too simple—such as a linear model for data that follows a curved pattern—then the model will be unable to capture the underlying relationships, producing high bias. Because the model cannot fit the training data well, its training error remains large and its generalization error also stays high. This situation is classic underfitting, where the model is too restrictive and fails to learn the true pattern. For example, fitting a straight line to points that actually follow a quadratic curve will leave large residuals both on the training set and on new data.

Detailed Explanation

A model that is overly simplistic has too few parameters to learn the patterns in the data. Other options are incorrect because The misconception is that a very complex model will always underfit; The misconception is that a perfect fit guarantees good performance.

Key Concepts

Generalization error
Underfitting
Topic

Empirical Risk Minimization

Difficulty

medium level question

Cognitive Level

understand

Ready to Master More Topics?

Join thousands of students using Seekh's interactive learning platform to excel in their studies with personalized practice and detailed explanations.